Last Updated on March 19, 2024
EDITOR’S NOTE: In March 2024 rumors spread about the sourcing of Aldi bacon. You can read our take on these rumors here.
Bacon is a quintessential American food … or, at least, it certainly seems that way. Technically, you can trace bacon back to ancient China, but the current epicenter of bacon rests in North America. In both the United States and Canada, the “bacon mania” of the last decade has seen a sharp rise in the consumption of this meat, whether in breakfast arrangements or alongside meats for lunch or dinner. From BLTs to bacon cheeseburgers to bacon-wrapped shrimp, you can find bacon somewhere on most Americana restaurant menus.
Most people who serve bacon at home buy it uncooked, out of the refrigerated section at their local grocer. From there, they cook it in a skillet, in the microwave, or in the oven, before putting it to use in whatever dish they have in mind. Aldi, like most grocers, sells a variety of bacon options: regular cut, thick cut, low sodium, uncured, you name it.
Aldi also sells bacon outside of its refrigerated section, right there on the room temperature shelves. It’s precooked. Curious, we decided to take a look at it.
Appleton Farms Fully Cooked Bacon is an Aldi Regular Buy. You can find it on store shelves all the time. It currently comes in a sealed 2.1-ounce plastic bag and costs $3.25. At $1.54 an ounce, this bacon is exponentially more expensive than uncooked Aldi bacon, which currently runs closer to 25 cents an ounce. You’re paying for convenience, no doubt.
Nutritionally, bacon is not the healthiest food. Aside from what’s used to process it, three slices of this bacon has 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, and 190 milligrams of sodium. As with all bacon, moderation is probably best.
This precooked bacon is certainly convenient. This bacon can be stored at room temperature until you open it; after that, it should be refrigerated. It’s already cooked, so heating it is just about getting it hot. You don’t have to deal with all the grease that comes with cooking raw bacon. The instructions say to heat this in the microwave for 5 seconds per slice if you want it hot, and 10 seconds per slice if you want it crispy.
I went for crispy.
Is it as good as frying up the uncooked stuff? We don’t think so. The taste is just a little different, and it doesn’t melt in the mouth quite the way perfectly crisped bacon does. But it’s also still pretty decent. We think this particular bacon is best suited when added to something else: atop a breakfast sandwich or a BLT, maybe, or perhaps a burger. We don’t think it’s quite as inspired served alone next to eggs.
The Verdict:
Appleton Farms Fully Cooked Bacon is all about easy. It cooks up in mere seconds and does a good, if not great, job of being the bacon you need. It’s even moderately crispy if you microwave it for 10 seconds a slice. It also isn’t swimming in grease like what happens when you cook raw bacon. On the other hand, it’s more than six times as expensive as typical Aldi uncooked bacon. If quality and price are your top priorities, this won’t do it. If, on the other hand, you need easy and decent bacon, this might be what you’re looking for.
